Similar to nerfs in Firelands and Icecrown, it's time for Dragon Soul to begin having its difficulty adjusted. This time, it's via "Power of the Aspects," coming the week of January 31st, which reduces the health and damage dealt by all enemies in the raid by 5%. This spell will stack over time in normal and Heroic difficulties.

This may seem a bit sudden to players, as well as unexpected--with LFR being designed to be accessible, why make heroics easier this early on?

During the scheduled server maintenance on the week of January 31, the Dragon Soul raid will become enveloped by the “Power of the Aspects” spell, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the raid by 5%. This spell will grow progressively stronger over time to reduce the difficulty and make the encounters more accessible. The spell will affect both normal and Heroic difficulties, but it will not affect the Looking for Raid difficulty.

The spell can also be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul, if a raid wishes to attempt the encounters without the aid of the Dragon Aspects.

For those of you who raided in Firelands and/or Icecrown you’re no doubt aware that as time goes on we want to keep people progressing by adjusting the difficulty. For any number of reasons a group may be having difficulty on a specific encounter each week, and our intent in adjusting the content is to ensure the ability to keep progressing, enjoying the content, and gearing up. With Icecrown we progressively buffed the players, and while this slow progression (and ability to opt-out of the buff) were both beneficial, it led to an expectation of your characters power, and once you left the raid you could certainly feel less effective. For Firelands we attempted to fix that by nerfing the content instead of buffing players, but we nerfed the content difficulty all at one time, which was counterproductive for players who really didn’t need as severe a change as we made. With Dragon Soul we’re attempting to do the best of both by having a progressive nerf to the content, keeping player power constant while providing small increases in assistance over a long period of time, as well as allowing players to opt-out of the assistance by speaking to Lord Afrasastrasz.

We hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Soul, and that these changes encourage you to attempt a higher difficulty, or just keep pushing to down that next boss.

4.3 launched this week; it's time for another guide to gearing up in a new patch. As usual, this guide does not aim to provide a BiS set of heroic Dragon Soul gear for each class and spec; rather it analyzes the new loot in the context of current options for several different playstyles.

There's two notable new ways to acquire gear: Looking for Raid and expanded Valor Point loot tables.

Looking for Raid: Players can now queue up as a group or by themselves to join a 25-man raid. These raids will not have a lockout and they will drop tier 13, although the stats will be lower than a normal or heroic 25-man. The LFR system operates much like the current dungeon finder and even minimizes the raid itself, splitting it in half, so players can only queue for half of an instance at a time. Players need a minimum ilvl of 372 to be eligible to queue.

Valor Points: While players cannot purchase Tier 13 pieces with Valor Points, the vendors sell ilvl 397 items for practically every slot. Those that aren't covered by points are covered with new BoE craftables. The idea is to have Valor Point gearing become an alternative path to normal-mode gearing.

This guide covers the following types of loot:

LFR (384-390) / Normal (397-403) / Hardmode Dragon Soul(410-416)

End Time, Hour of Twilight, Well of Eternity (378)

New craftables (397)

Valor Point rewards (397)

Normal/Hardmode Firelands (378-397)

4.2 badge gear--now purchased with Justice Points (378)

Select rewards from reputation, old craftables, and instances

There's some ilvl overlap between 4.2 and 4.3 gear--we included relevant 4.2 items so you can determine if its worth farming some new gear or not.

As LFR requires ilvl 372, you'll need to have more than just gear from Troll Heroics (353)--getting gear from Firelands, the new dungeons, and Justice Point rewards will help. (And you can always inflate it with the new PvP gear--but, that's not ideal in most cases for actually performing well.)

Arena and Rated Battleground Season 10 is scheduled to end as early as November 15. At that point we will determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards, a process that should take approximately one week. It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for Arena titles and/or the Vicious Gladiator’s Twilight Drake to refrain from transferring their characters to another realm or faction until after Season 10 ends. During the break between seasons, all Rated Battleground and Arena matches will be unavailable.

At the end of the season, Conquest Points will be converted to Honor Points, possibly exceeding the 4,000 point Honor cap. All Season 10 items will cost Honor Points (equivalent to their previous Conquest Point cost) when the season ends, with the exception of any items with rating requirements attached. These items will no longer be available for purchase.

Please be aware that higher ilvl PvP items will be introduced and available for Honor points with patch 4.3.

The next Arena and Rated Battleground season will begin for level-85 players approximately one week after the end of Season 10 and will coincide with the awarding of Season 10 titles and mounts. At that time, any Honor accrued above the 4,000-point cap will be converted into gold at a rate of 35 silver per point. In addition, Season 11 rewards will be made available for purchase with Conquest Points awarded during the new season. Matchmaking Ratings will carry over when Season 11 begins, but all Team and Personal Ratings will be wiped.

With the release of 4.3 all Valor Points will be down-converted to Justice Points, and all Conquest Points will be down-converted to Honor Points. To curb the ability to sell items back to the vendors after the conversion for the higher currency, we’re instituting a new sellback policy for items purchased directly before currency down-conversions.

Items purchased within the two hour window before the release of 4.3 will lose their ability to be sold back to the vendor when the realms are brought down for maintenance. No refunds will be granted for items purchased during this time, either by the in-game vendors, or our support departments.

As an example, I buy an item at 2:30 a.m. The servers come down for the release of 4.3 half an hour later. Normally I would still have an hour and a half after the servers return to sell the item back to the vendor. With this policy change though, upon logging in my item can no longer be sold back to the vendor.

This policy is only in effect for maintenances that include currency down-conversions, such as the release of 4.3. To ensure you don’t purchase the wrong item with the inability to sell it back, we recommend buying well before the final two hours so there’s time to change any incorrect purchases.

It's been a busy week for Ashelia and myself in the wake of BlizzCon. Like our 4.3 coverage roundup a few weeks back, we wanted to organize everything related to BlizzCon in one post--because we know there's some awesome things that slipped through the cracks in your first read-through. We'll be launching a full Mists of Pandaria guide shortly (that will include even more information released outside of BlizzCon--like Thursday's Dev Q&A), but in the meantime, catch up on all the news coverage and relive the last weekend!

Oh, and while you're at it, be sure to enter our Hallow's End WoW TCG Giveaway--we've giving away thirty prizes, including some Swift Shorestrider codes. Simply comment with your favorite holiday to enter, although the judges will take a second look at creative and detailed responses!

On Saturday, we unveiled our Mists of Pandaria talent calculator. Base abilities and specializations will be added as more information is released, but we were very excited to have this feature up so quickly for everyone to use!

We also:

Transcribed all the new talents and wrote a mini-guide.

Liveblogged all the panels, including the WoW General Q&A and the Class, Professions, and Items Q&A.

Summed up all the panels by topic: General, Raids, Pandaria, Classes, Items, Professions.

Friday's coverage was a whirlwind. From the Mists of Pandaria starting zone demo to new talents unveiled, there was something groundbreaking and exciting to report on every hour. Highlights of the coverage include:

A preview of the new starting zone and monk class.

Complete talent system revamp.

Preview of dungeon challenge modes.

We also included numerous blue posts, as well as Ashelia's fabulous liveblog coverage of all major panels, screenshots, and trailers.

Everyone always looks forward to the costume and dance contest at BlizzCon--seeing the fans represent their favorite characters. This year proved to be no exception with a variety of familiar and unique characters on display. The winning costume was the Adjutant from StarCraft II, with a Tier 2 Paladin and Deathwing's Human Form also placing.

We also included some press information in this post, such as the Official Mists of Pandaria FAQ.

Last Saturday, we interviewed Dave Kosak, WoW Lead Quest Designer. We tried to ask him a variety of fun questions about our favorite quests, things we missed, and what Mists of Pandaria has in store. He elaborated on some details that weren't officially presented at Blizzcon--the addition of a book/story based "Lorewalker" faction, ways that cosmetically alter your flying mount, and quests that teach you to become better tanks and healers.

We've covered the highlights from the Opening Ceremony, including many exciting tidbits about Diablo III like the WoW Annual Pass, new trailers and screenshots, and the first preview of Mists of Pandaria--land of balance and hope.

So in Taiwan and Korea lockout timers are going to be adjusted to reset twice a week--the interesting news is that these may come to other regions at some point. This is a pretty significant change in store, though they do not have a time frame yet for US or EU regions.

The new raid lockout changes for Taiwan and Korea adjust the lockout timers for the patch 4.0 and 4.2 raids. The lockout timers for these raids will now reset twice weekly instead of once. These raid lockout changes are being made to allow players to raid more often and get more chances at epic loot drops. Players will be able to down current Cataclysm raid bosses twice a week, accelerating players’ progression.

We are testing these new raid lockout changes in Taiwan and Korea first. Our goal is to expand this change to other regions in the future, but we don’t have anything further to announce at this time with regard to North American implementation.

Today was another huge day, so we have combined this post into a day two guide--nothing was quite big enough to stand out on its own.

However, we have some pretty big news here at Wowhead. All weekend, we had a huge focus on Mists of Pandaria, and our team manned up and worked overtime on a special project.

Even though the new talents are going to be changed and retooled, we have built an initial version of a Mists of Pandaria talent calculator! This was just a huge team effort, pretty much everyone worked very hard on it. Thanks everyone for putting in overtime during BlizzCon weekend just to get a visual representation of the contents.

Mists of Pandaria Talents & Talent Calculator

We've also transcribed all the talents here, so they can be easily seen in the blog.

Level 15

Roiling BloodYour Blood Boil ability now also triggers Pestilence if it strikes a diseased target.

Corpse Explosion30 Runic PowerInstantDetonate the nearest Disease-Ridden corpse to deal 3761 Shadow damage to enemies within 15 yards, afflicting them with Blood Plague and Frost Fever. An enemy that dies while afflicted by one or more of your diseases will receive the Disease-Ridden effect.

LichborneInstant, 2 min cooldownDraw upon unholy energy to become undead for 10 sec. While undead, you are immune to Charm, Fear and Sleep effects.

Anti-Magic ZoneInstant, 2 min cooldownPlaces a large, stationary Anti-Magic Zone that reduces spell damage done to party or raid members inside it by 75%. The Anti-Magic ZOne lasts for 10 sec or until it absorbs 11832 spell damage.

Bone ShieldInstant, 1 min cooldownSurrounds you with a barrier of whirling bones. The shield begins with 5 charges, and each damaging attack consumes a charge. While at least 1 charge remains, you take 20% less damage from all sources. Lasts 5 min.

Level 45

Death's AdvanceWhile your Unholy Runes are both depleted, movement-impairing effects may not reduce you below 75% of normal movement speed.

Asphyxiate1 Blood, 30 yd rangeInstant, 1 min cooldownLifts an enemy target off the ground and crushes their throat with dark energy, stunning them for until cancelled. Functions as a silence if the target is immune to stuns.Replaces Strangulate.

Level 60

Death Pact40 Runic PowerInstant, 2 min cooldownDrain energy from an undead minion, healing the Death Knight for 25% of her maximum health.

Death Siphon40 yd rangeInstantConsumes a Death Rune to deal 4701 Shadow damage to an enemy, healing the Death Knight for 75% of damage dealt.

Vampiric BloodInstant, 1 min cooldownTemporarily grants the Death Knight 15% of maximum health and increases the amount of health received from healing spells and effects by 25% for 10 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost.

Runic EmpowermentWhen you land a damaging Death Coil, Frost STrike, or Rune STrike, you have a 45% chance to activate a random fully depleted rune.

Runic CorruptionWhen you land a damaging Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike, your rune regeneration rate is increased by 100% for 3 sec.

Level 90

Gorefiend's GraspInstant, 1 min cooldownShadowy tendrils coil around all enemies within 20 yards of a target (hostile or friendly), dealing 4137 Shadow damage and pulling them to the target's location.

Remorseless WinterInstant, 1 min cooldownSurrounds the Death Knight with a swirling tempest of frigid air, dealing 3777 Frost damage to enemies within 10 yards, every 1 sec for 8 sec. Each time Remorseless Winter deals damage, it reduces enemy movement speed by 15%, stacking up to 5 times. Upon receiving a fifth application, an enemy will be stunned for 6 sec.

Desecrated GroundInstant, 2 min cooldownCorrupts the ground in a 8 yard radius beneath the Death Knight, dealing 1880 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 10 sec. While standing in this corruption, the Death Knight is immune to crowd control effects.

Level 15

Feline SwiftnessIncreases your movement speed by 10% and by an additional 20% while in Cat Form.

Displacer BeastInstant, 3 min cooldownTeleports the Druid up to 20 yards in a random direction, purging all periodic damage effects and providing stealth for 10 sec. Attacking or taking damage cancels this effect. Using this ability activates Cat Form.

Tireless PursuitInstant, 3 min cooldownRemoves all roots and snares, and increases movement speed by 70% while in Cat Form for 15 sec. Does not break prowling. Using this ability activates Cat Form.

Faerie SwarmDecreases the target's armor by 12% for 5 min and reduces the target's movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. While affected, the target cannot stealth or turn invisible. Deals 49 damage when cast from Bear Form. Useable in all shapeshift forms, but incurs a 6 sec cooldown while in Bear Form or Cat Form.This talent replaces Faerie Fire.

Mass Entanglement4480 Mana, 30 yd range2 sec cast, 1 min cooldownRoots all enemies within 12 yards of the destination for 8 sec. Damage caused many interrupt the effect. Cannot be cast while in Bear Form or Cat Form.

Typhoon5120 ManaInstant cast, 20 sec cooldownSummons a violent Typhoon that strikes targets in front of the caster within 30 yards, knocking them back and dazing them for 6 sec. Useable in all shapeshift forms.

Level 60

Wild ChargeGrants a movement ability that varies by shapeshift form:Example:Non-shapeshiftedFly to an ally's position and your next healing spell costs no mana.

Bear FormCharge to an enemy, immobilizing them and granting you 30% haste.

Moonkin FormBound backward and gain 20 Lunar or Solar Energy, whichever is more beneficial to you.

Ursol's VortexInstant 30 sec cooldownConjure a vortex of wind that pulls all enemies within 15 yards toward your own location. Useable in all shapeshift forms.

Bear HugInstant 1 min cooldownMelee attack that stuns the target and deals 10% of the Druid's health in damage every 1 sec for 3 sec. Effect canceled if the Druid moves away, attacks, or takes any other action. Using this ability activates Bear Form.

BalanceHealing spells generate Lunar or Solar Energy and benefit from Lunar and Solar Eclipse. In addition, grants 50% of Intellect as Agility, 10% of hit rating as expertise rating, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form.

FeralGrants 50% of Agility as Intellect, increases hit rating by 100%, and increases armor by 95% while in Bear Form. In addition, regenerates 2% of maximum mana every 5 sec.

Master ShapeshifterImproves the Druid's effectiveness at briefly switching between forms. Your melee abilities increase your spell damage by 10% and your non-instant spellcasts increase your attack power by 10%. Both effects stack up to 3 times and last 15 sec. each ability used which benefits from one of these effects consumes one application of that effect.

DisentanglementShapeshifting now removes roots. In addition, shifting into a form heals the Druid for 20% of maximum health. This heal cannot be received more often than once every 30 sec.

Level 15

Frozen ArrowsYour arrows and ammunition are chilled with frost, causing your Auto Shot to have a 30% chance to reduce the target's movement speed by 30% for 10 sec.

Arcane ArrowsYour arrows and amunition are infused with arcane magic, causing your Auto Shot to have a 50% chance to restore 5 focus when it deals damage.

Venom Tipped ArrowsYour arrows and amunition are mixed with serpent venom, causing a stacking posion damage over time effect on the target dealing Nature damage. Stacks up to 5 times.

Wyvern Sting10 Focus, 5-35 yd rangeAttack Speed, 1 min cooldownRequires Ranged WeaponA stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 30 sec. Any damage will cancel the effect. When the target wakes up, the Sting causes 2190 Nature damage over 6 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at a time.

Intimidation1 min cooldownCommand your pet to intimidate the target, causing a high amount of threat and stunning the target for 3 sec. Lasts 15 sec.

Level 45

PosthasteYour movement speed is increased by 60% for 4 sec after you use Disengage.

EvasivenessIncreases your chance to dodge attacks and resist spells by 100% for 3 sec when you Disengage.

ExhilarationWhen you Disengage, you are instantly healed for 15% of your total health when you successfully land.

Level 60

Crouching Tiger, Hidden ChimeraWhenever you are hit by a melee attack, the cooldown of your Disengage is instantly reduced by 4 sec.Whenever you are hit by a ranged attack or spell, the cooldown of your Deterrence is instantly reduced by 8 sec.These effects have a 2 sec cooldown.

Aspect of the HawkYour Aspect of the Hawk now also reduces all direct damage taken by 15%.

Spirit BondWhile your pet is active, you and your pet will regenerate 2% of total health every 5 sec.

Thrill of the HuntYou have a 15% chance when you use fire a shot that costs Focus to instantly regain 100% of the Focus of the shot.

Level 90

Flash FreezeYour Freezing Trap no longer has a cooldown, but only one target can be afflicted by it at a time.

Black IceIncreases the movement speed reduction of your Ice Trap by an additional 10% and when you move through your Ice Trap you gain 50% movement speed for 4 sec.

Transmorph Trap30 sec cooldownPlace a nature trap laced with a special toxin that will transmorph the next enemy into a beast, reducing their movement speed by 60% and causing them to be unable to use any of their normal abilities.

Cone of Cold8000 ManaInstant cast, 10 sec cooldownTargets in a cone in front of the caster take 802 Frost damage and are frozen in place for 3 sec and slowed by 60% for 6 sec.

Frostjaw4800 Mana, 30 yd range1.5 sec cast, 20 sec cooldownSilences and freezes the target in place for 8 sec. Lasts half as long versus Player targets.

Level 30

Greater Invisibility5120 ManaInstant cast, 3 min cooldownInstantly makes the caster invisible, reducing all threat and removing two damage over time effects. The effect is cancelled if you perform any actions. Lasts 20 sec

CauterizeAn attack which would otherwise kill you will instead bring you to 60% of your maximum health. However, you will burn for 10% of your maximum health every 1.50 sec for the next 6 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.

Dragon's Breath2240 ManaInstant cast, 30 sec cooldownTargets in a cone in front of the caster take 1285 Fire damage and are disoriented for 5 sec. Any direct damaging attack will revive targets.

Slow3840 Mana, 35 yd rangeInstant castReduces target's movement speed by 50%, increases the time between ranged attacks by 30% and increases casting time by 15%. Lasts 15 sec.Slow can only affect one target at a time.

Level 15

Speed of Light1 min cooldownIncreases your movement speed by 60% for 6 sec. During this time, you radiate healing to nearby allies.

Long Arm of the LawA successful Judgment increases your movement speed by 45% for 4 sec.

Persuit of JusticeYou gain 10% movement speed for each current charge of Holy Power.

Repentance2880 Mana, 30 yd range1.5 sec castPuts the enemy target in a state of meditation incapcitating them for up to 1 min. Any damage from sources other than Censure will awaken the target. Usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.

Ardent Defender3 min cooldownReduce damage taken by 20% for 10 sec. While Ardent Defender is active, the next attack that would otherwise kill you will instead cause you to be healed for 15% of your maximum health.

Level 60

Selfless HealerYour succesful Judgments reduce the mana cost of your next Flash of Light by 50% and improve its effectiveness by 50% when used to heal others. Stacks up to 2 times.

Eternal GloryYour Word of Glory and Light of Dawn have a 30% chance not to consume Holy Power.

VenerationYour Consecration causes the Veneration effect on party or raid members within its area.Veneration - you are immune to movement impairing effects for 6 second.

Acts of SacrificeReduces the cooldown by 20% and mana cost by 20% of your Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection and Hand of Sacrifice.In addition, your Cleanse will remove one movement impairing effect is cast on yourself.

Clemency5 min cooldownWhen activated, immediately finishes the cooldown on your Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection and Hand of Sacrifice.

Level 90

Holy AvengerSummoning your Guardian of Ancient Kings also imbues you with the power of a Holy Avenger.

Holy Avenger - none of your abilities consume Holy Power and cast as if 3 Holy Power were consumed. Lasts 10 sec.

Sanctified WrathYou gain more frequent access to one of your abilities during Avenging Wrath.

HolyHoly Shock has no cooldown.

ProtectionJudgment has no cooldown.

RetributionYou can use Hammer of Wrath.

Divine PurposeAbilities that cost Holy Power have a 15% to cause the Divine Purpose effect.Divine Purpose - Your next Holy Power ability will consume no Holy Power and to cast as if 3 Holy Power were consumed.

Level 15

Void Tendrils30 sec cooldown4800 ManaSummons Shadowy tendrils out of the ground, rooting all targets within 10 yards for 20 sec. Killing the tendril will cancel the effect.

Psyfiend1 min cooldown4800 ManaSummons a Psyfiend that stands in place. The Psyfiend casts a Psychic Scream on a nearby enemy within 40 yards every 2 lasting for 10 sec, preferring anything attacking the Priest or her friends.

Body and SoulWhen you cast Power Word: Shield or Leap of Faith, you increase the target's movement speed by 60% for 4 sec.

Path of the DevoutIncreases your movement speed while Levitating by 25%.

PhantasmAnytime you fade, you remove all movement impairing effects from yourself and your movement speed will be unhindered for 3 sec.

Level 45

From Darkness, Comes LightSurge of Light (Caster form)You have a 6% chance when you Smite, Heal, Flash Heal, Binding Heal or Greater Heal to cause your next Flash Heal to be instant cast and have no mana cost.

Surge of Darkness (Shadowform)You have a 6% chance when you deal damage with Mind Flay to cause your next Mind Blast to be instant cast and have no Shadow Orb cost.

Divine Star30 sec cooldown20 yd rangeFires a Divine Star in front of you, traveling 20 yards doing damage to all enemies and healing all friendly targets in its path.After reaching its destination, it will return to you also dealing damage and healing all targets in its path.

Desperate Prayer2 min cooldownInstantly healers the caster for 30% of their total health.

Angelic BulwarkIncreases the effectiveness of your own shield effects on yourself by 30%.

Final PrayerAnytime a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 20% of your total health lasting for 20 sec.This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.

Level 75

Twist of FateIncreases damage and healing done to targets at or below 25% health.

SerendipityWhen you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 20% and mana cost reduced by 10%. Stacks up to 2 times. Lasts 10 sec.

Mind MeltRequires ShadowformWhen you deal damage with Mind Spike, the cast time of your next Mind Blast is reduced by 50% lasting 6 sec. Mind Melt can stack up to 2 times.

Level 90

Vow of Unity3 min cooldown40 yd rangeYou create a Vow of Unity with the friendly target. Whenever you heal the target through spells and effects, you are also healed equal to 20% of the amount.In addition, when the target is attacked, 50% of the damage is redirected to you over 6 sec.If your target is victim to an attack greater than 30% of their total health, the Vow of Unity effect ends.

Void Shift3 min cooldown40 yd rangeYou swap health percentage with the currently friendly target. After this effect ends, you are instantly healed for 25% of your total health.

Vampiric DominanceWhen you deal damage or healing, 15% of the amount is healed to up to 3 low health nearby allies.

Level 15

NightstalkerIncreases your speed while stealthed by 20%

SubterfugeYour Stealth breaks 3 seconds after dealing or receiving damage, rather than doing so immediately.

Nerve StrikeA successful Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot also reduces the damage dealt by the target by 50% for 6 seconds after the effect fades.

Combat ReadinessInstant, 2 min cooldownEnter into a state of heightened awareness, deflecting enemy weapon strikes with increasing effectiveness. Successive attacks will deal 10% less damage per application, stacking 5 times.Lasts for 20 sec. but if 10 sec elapse without any incoming weapon strikes, this state will end.

Level 45

Cheat DeathAn attack that would otherwise be fatal will instead reduce you no lower than 10% of your maximum health, and damage taken will be reduced by 80% for 3 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per 90 seconds.

Leeching PoisonCoats a weapon with poison that lasts for 1 hour. Subsequent weapon strikes against the poisoned target will heal you for 10% of damage dealt.

Improved RecuperateCauses your Recuperate ability to restore an additional 1% of your maximum health and reduces all damage taken by 6% while your Recuperate ability is active.

Burst of Speed60 EnergyInstantIncreases movement speed by 70% for 4 sec. If you are afflicted by any movement impairing effects, activating this ability will instead remove any such effects and grant immunity to their re-application for 4 sec.

Level 75

Deadly BrewWhenever you apply Instant, Wound, or Mind-Numbing Poison to a target, you also apply Crippling Poison.

Paralytic PoisonInstantCoats a weapon with a poison that lasts for 1 hour. Each strike has a chance of applying a charge of Paralytic Poison to the enemy. Upon a fifth application, the poison will stun the enemy for 4 seconds.

Killing Spree10 yd rangeInstant, 2 min cooldownRequires Melee WeaponStep through the shadows to a random enemy within 10 yards, dealing a damaging strike and generating 5 combo points on that target. This ability may be activated multiple times within 5 sec of its first activation.

Vendetta30 yd rangeInstant 2 min cooldownMarks an enemy for dealth, increasing all damage you deal to the target by 20% for 15 sec. While Vendetta is active, the rogue may deal Vengeful Strikes to the marked target.Vengeful Strike costs 30 Energy, deals 100% weapon damage (145% with a dagger), has a 30 yard range and generates a combo point.

Level 15

Frozen PowerYour Frost Shock now also roots the target in ice for 5 sec.

Earthgrab Totem1600 ManaSummons an Earthgrab Totem with 5 health at the feed of the caster for 45 sec. The totem pulses every second, rooting all enemies within 8 yards for 5 sec. Recently rooted enemies will instead have their movement speed reduced by 50%.Replaces Earthbind Totem.

Repulsion Totem1600 ManaSummons an Air totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 15 sec that repels enemies.

Stone Bulwark Totem1 min cooldown2560 ManaSummons an Earth totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 30 sec that grants the caster a shield absorbing 2649 damage and refreshes that shield every 5 sec.

Astral Shift2 min cooldownSeek haven by shifting partially into the elemental planes, reducing damage taken by 50% but also all damage and healing dealt by 50% for 6 sec.

Level 45

Improved Ghost WolfWhile in Ghost Wolf form, you ignore the effects of snares.

Windwalk Totem1 min cooldown1920 ManaSummons an Air Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 6 sec, granting raid members within 30 yards immunity to movement impairing effects.

Tranquil Mind Totem1 min cooldownSummons an Air Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 6 sec, granting raid members within 30 yards immunity to spellcast interrupt and silence effects.

Level 60

Healing Tide Totem3 min cooldown2560 ManaSummons a Water Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 10 sec, healing the 5 most injured raid members within 40 yards for 1060 health every 2 sec.

Ancestral Guidance3 min cooldownWhen you deal direct damage or healing for the next 10 seconds, 40% of that amount is copied as healing to a nearby injured ally.

Soul LeechYour Shadowbolt, Incinerate and Malefic Grasp heal you for 25% of the damage dealt.

Harvest of Life640 Mana, plus 20 per sec 40 yd rangeChanneledDrains the life from the target and all targets within 20 yards, causing 94 Shadow damage and restoring 2% of the caster's total health per target every 1 sec. Lasts 3 sec.Empowered Channel: recasting this spell before it finishes boosts the duration by 3 sec. Stacks 5 times.

Hour of TwilightWhen a damaging attack brings you below 20% of your maximum health, all damage taken is reduced by 50% for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.

Soul Link1600 Mana, 40 yd rangeInstant castWhen active, all damage and healing the Warlock takes is shared with her active demon. That damage cannot be prevented. Lasts as long as the demon is active and controlled.

Sacrificial Pact100 yd rangeInstant, 5 min cooldownYour demon sacrifices itself to prevent all damage you would take for 10 sec.

Level 60

BloodstoneInstant 2, min cooldownInstantly restores 44% of the Warlock's base health and increases healing received by 50% for 10 sec.

Spell Drain640 ManaInstant cast 20 sec cooldownThe next single target spell focused at you heals you for half the damage it would have dealt.Lasts 4 sec.

Double Time20 sec cooldownYou can use Charge twice before incurring its cooldown.

WarbringerYour charge also roots a target for 5 sec.

Level 30

Enraged RegenerationInstant 3 min cooldownYou regenerate 30% of your total health over 10 sec.Can only be used while Enraged.

Second WindWhenever you are struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect you generate 20 Rage and 5% of your total health over 10 sec.Whenever you take direct damage, you have a 10% chance to regenerate 3% of your total Health over 5 sec.

Impending VictoryYou can use a Victory Rush at any time, but with a 30 sec cooldown and at a 20 rage cost.

Level 45

Throwdown35 sec cooldown15 Rage, Melee RangeRequires Melee WeaponKnocks the target to the ground and stuns it for 5 sec.

Piercing Howl10 RageCauses all enemies within 10 yards to be Dazed, reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec.

Death Wish3 min cooldownYou attack with reckless abandon for the next 10 sec, which Enrages you and causes you to generate additional rage from damage received.While under the effects of Death Wish, you take 5% additional damage.

Bull RushYour Charge and Intervene Enrage you for 6 sec.

Level 90

Bladestorm1.5 min cooldown25 RageRequires a Melee WeaponYou become a whirling storm of destructive force, instantly striking all nearby targets for 150% weapon damage and continuing to strike all neabry targets every 1 sec for 6 sec.During a Bladestorm, you are immune to movement impairing and loss of control effects, but can be Disarmed, and you can only perform shout abilities.

Shockwave20 sec cooldown15 RageSends a wave of force in front of you, causing 497 damage and stunning all enemy targets within 10 yards in a frontal cone for 4 sec.

Mists of Pandaria Panels: A Mini-Guide

Here is what was talked about in the Q&As today--there were four, so make sure you check up. The transcripts are still below.

Guild name change service live in approximately two weeks.

Definite plans to revamp all character models.

No plana for mounts to be BoA like achievements, but perhaps in another patch.

There will be a way to turn authenticators on and off in the future.

Questing with faction changing will be improved--as an example, if you're working on the legendary chain and faction change, you currently lose all your progress.

It would be nice to have BoA items cross-server, but it is difficult to create a system. Might try to do this for heirlooms, mounts, and so on if we do it for pets in 5.0.

Players may be able to customize colors of their spells.

Possibility of esbian/homosexual/transgender lore figures.

10-man raiding is hard to balance against 25-man raiding. In theory, they are meant to be the same, but it's very hard to implement.

Spectator mode for raids and/or battlegrounds would be awesome to integrate, as well as replays, but it's far off.

Would be nice to have a "hall of heroes" documenting players that killed bosses at relevant progression times.

Blizzard would like more heroic encounters with similar difficulty to Heroic Ragnaros.

Although Monks will be an additional healing class, there are no plans to design encounters that require more healers in raids.

Hit caps, and other breakpoints, will not be normalized in challenge modes. It's about skill, not gear.

15-man sized raids would be ideal for several reasons such as smart loot, but would be difficult for recruitment purposes.

Possibly raid challenges and tracking in the future.

Epics from Firelands will be replaced during greens in Mists of Pandaria.

It's a stretch for Draenei and Blood Elves to be Monks--but they're going to make it work.

Players can tell Alliance and Horde Pandaren apart based on their UI. Will be hard to tell apart visually.

Visual theme for Mists of Pandaria: Brewing, bamboo, and so on.

General

Possibly additional character slots, with the addition of the monk class.

New talent trees may have resource caps over 100 via glyphs, passive abilities, or set bonuses.

There are some problems with current talent trees--not allowing players to have choices in selecting cool flavor talents.

New spells will be added in MoP, but not that many while leveling between 85-90.

While a melee cloth class would be interesting, one type of itemization for a single class sucks, like holy paladin gear.

With the removal of ranged weapons in MoP, many classes are losing stats from relics/wands/etc.

Auto attack is probably not going to be removed for other classes--it might even be put back in for the Monk. It's very risky to remove because it changes a class' playstyle too much.

Tanking

Demoralizing shout/roar was removed because it wasn't interesting.

Active tanking should be like Death Knights--focus talent trees on staying alive, rather than threat.

Death Knight tanking is too spiky: the armor bonus from Blood will go up from 35% to 55% in 4.3, which has not been announced yet.

Bears are losing their strong cat DPS.

Healing

Healing went awry in mid-Cataclysm in PvP with too many buffs.

Holy priests have some challenges when dosing, but not as bad as in vanilla. Also, dual spec helps healers that need to dps dailies.

Resto druids have decent single target healing, but mindless AoE healing. A new type of wild mushroom could be introduced that makes people heal when it explodes.

Monk healing a bit iffy for now--possibly chi will become mana. Goals: mobile, proximity healing, zipping around healing groups of people. Statues will also be used--they will heal raid every time you DPS the boss.

DPS

Death Knight There are problems with minions for Unholy DKs, especially the Gargoyles. Unholy is very disappointing currently, especially in balancing secondary stats.

Druid

Cats twill not have frenzied regeneration.

No plans for druids to equip two fist weapons for DPS.

In 5.0, Hurricane will have a new arcane version.

Hunter

Wyvern sting currently makes it hard to trap as a hunter, since it has a dot. These types of issues will be fixed in Pandaria.

No plans to let MM/SV hunters use spirit beasts still.

Mage

Unhappy with arcane barrage and the lack of complexity, as well as arcane missiles.

Living bomb will be a spell for all mages.

Priest

Shadow priests will be gaining a resource like Holy Power. Mind blast will have no cooldown and will cost Shadow Orbs.

Rogue

Rogues are possibly threatened by strong hybrid melee dps--Cat druids and Monk Windwalkers. However, rogues have utility such as FoK crippling poison, interrupts, and stuns, not to mention PvP.

Combat rogues should use their cooldowns asap instead of waiting.

Shaman

Level 90 shaman talents--Elemental Harmony--will not be used on three fire totems, and you can't duplicate.

Enhancement shaman are agreed to be a bit weak right now--hopefully 4.3 will help.

Warlock

Warlocks cannot customize the name of their demons because they just grab a pet from the nether and later destroy it.

Warrior

Heroic Leap is difficult to fix.

Weapons

Strength polearms are hard to implement because there's not a niche, especially since you can't use Titan's Grip with a polearm (even though the Pandaren dual wield them).

Faction-specific legendaries are interesting and epic, but may take a lot of planning to implement for MoP.

Tanks haven't had a legendary in quite some time--an orange shield would be interesting in the future.

Dragonwrath was a good example of an epic item with an epic questline behind it. Perhaps the hunter questline in vanilla will return with an updated bow.

Chance of vanity disguise items like Fandral's Flamescythe in the future--but used sparingly to be rare.

Monks planned to share similar weapon itemization to feral druids--polearms.

Armor

T13 bonuses for bear druids are problematic because it impedes upon utility for bears. However, it's too imbalanced for cat druids to have that CD.

Deathknight Tier 13 armor: Soon.

New cool quivers and other art for hunters in the future.

Noggenfogger

Noggenfogger doesn't work on mounts/taxis because the animation system does not have an animation for the costume skeleton.Basic problem: our animation system does not have an animation for the skeleton.

No plans to let transformations such as Noggenfogger reappear when you dismount--difficult to implement.

Transmogrification

Old Gladiator sets will be back in 4.3, available at Area 52 soon on the PTR.

Items from world events--such as the Scourge Invasion--are trickier to implement.

A new glyph on the PTR will reduce the glow of Shadowform, to let Transmogrification gear to be shown more.

Removed iconic items like Benediction will be added back for Transmogrification--perhaps with a slight twist just like the recolored Zul'Aman bear.

It would be nice to have Tier 1-6 Transmogrification sets for Deathknights, but it's very expensive to make all that art.

Ranged weapons will remain in the game for visual purposes.

No plans for new enchanting drops (like in Ulduar) for 4.3. The reason: enchants seem solid, without a real need for more.

Enchanters will be able to make epic wands in 5.0.

Archaeology is eclectic--however, there are ways to improve it with extra fragments, dailies, and random digsites in MoP.

Leatherworkers may be able to make quivers for cosmetic purposes for Transmog.

Engineering is tricky to balance--devices are either trivial or almost turn into an additional class ability, it's so vast. Would be fun to update quirky devices, but difficult.

Chance of a cartable jewelcrafting mount.

Gathering professions will never be used for min-maxing.

Perfect cuts of JC gems would help crafters but would up the ante and make normal blue cut gems useless.

New Character Models

The biggest thing these Q&As brought out was that Blizzard is done being vague about updated character models. They've always wanted to do it--but they've never actually done it, due to fears about resources and players not receiving it well. However, with the pandaren, it's become painfully obvious models need updating and they need it as soon as possible. Zarhym expanded after the art director said it was his focus just a few minutes ago.

Art Director Chris Robinson spoke on this just moments ago at the BlizzCon Open Q&A panel. It was in reply to an attendee who brought up that, in the art panel, it was explained that the pandaren model has 10 times the bone structures of the classic races, allowing for many more facial animations.

To paraphrase his statement -- which isn't too different from what I've said here on the forums before -- we absolutely plan on updating the existing models. As Chris mentioned, we want to make sure we preserve the look and feel of the original models players have come to know and love, while vastly improving their model and animation quality to be more in-line with the newer races.

We're not going to hide behind the statement that too many players will get mad if we tamper with their models, but it's a concern -- not a concern that's going to stop us from doing it, however. I want to stress as well that it's a massive undertaking to go back and do this. And to a lot of people it's something that won't be considered shiny new content. But not only do we hear the masses of players calling for this update, we really feel it's time to bring them up to par with newer models as well.

The game continues to age, but as we have no plans of slowing down on development any time in the near future, we want to keep updating and polishing it to stand the test of time (again, without sacrificing the look and feel which has brought players in over the years).

Live Blogs of Panels

While we explained the liveblogs above and really dug into the crux of each panel, we know some people like to geek out and read more details. These also were going live, so many people commented and viewed them. In other words, these are the archives of the four panels Ashelia liveblogged today.

General WoW Q&A

All transcripts are currently collapsed--please expand them to read them in full.

Q: As a 10-man raider, I feel that 25-man is much harder--and that there are a lot of hardcore players who are 10-mans, who would like the difficulty harder.A: I don't think 10 is always easier; it's very hard to balance, we just can't do the same things for both. It's our goal to have them the same, but we often have to adjust later. We will not be changing raid sizes, the problems would still be the same.Q: Do you have any plans to make a spectator mode for raids and/or battlegrounds?A: That would be sweet. We've wanted this for a long time. We'd love to have replays integrated as well. It's just a question of being able to do it. So someday. Hopefully. I hope.

Q: Do you have any plans to add more to the guild leaders' UI so I can make officers have different roles, since guild leaders can only turn on g repairs? If I'm gone for a week, no one can do anything.A: Yeah, definitely a valid reason. I think it just comes down to how much control do we want to give between people. We have to figure out who can do what, for example, guild repairs turning on and off. Sounds useful, though! We don't want to let it be the gleader's decision entirely, as we have to clean it up after.Q: Will epics from Firelands be replaced by greens in Mists of Pandaria?A: Green is the new purple, every expansion. We want players to feel like they worked hard to have a leg up, but if it lasts too long, we cheat players out of the level experience. I hope that someday we can have a "hall of heroes" that records how hard you did work. For example, if you killed Ragnaros during patch 4.2, we'd like to let you be recognized so that we don't lose your accomplishments.

Q: How are you guys going to fit draenei and blood elves getting monks?A: We're just going to throw it in as if it was always there.

Q: Currently with wyvern sting having a dot, it makes it hard to trap as a hunter. Before Cata we could remove it with scorpid string, will there be a way to remove it?A: It won't be happening in 4.3, but in 5.0 it will probably change drastically--so at this point we want to just say that these types of issues will be fixed in Pandaria.

Q: In 4.3, you started that windshear wouldn't effect DPS shamans. However, most shamans don't take that talent. So you've caused shaman to inadvertently take a DPS hit and a survivability hit--any chance to address this?A: We're not that worried about it, you won't have to interrupt more often than not. There are a lot of people who can interrupt in PvE even in a 10-man.

Q: Please bring back Illidan. Do you guys hate enhancement shamans? They're always suboptimal.A: Would you like a newer version called Skillidan? Anyway, we hear you on the issues. It's easier for mages, we can just make you switch specs (i.e. arcane from fire). It's not that easy for enhancement shamans, we can't just tell you to go resto or ele. We hope that in 4.3 it will be a little better. Casters overshadow melee way too much and we hope 4.3 changes it a bit. Also, we are planning to do a lot in 5.0.Q: Do you want combat rogues to use cooldowns frantically or do you want them to hold off until certain buffs? A: Yeah, you should use them ASAP and quickly...

Q: When is the guild name change service in?A: Probably in less than two weeks. :)

Q: IT'S MY GUILDIE. OMG HI CRAMER. Do you plan on bringing the same kind of challenges that heroic Ragnaros brought or are you planning on trying to be easier?A: We will try to make it harder on heroic for players.Q: Are you planning to bring more healers into 25-man raids for Mists of Pandaria since there is a new healing class?A: I don't think we'll change the number of healers. We'll see more variety, some groups will have a monk--some won't.

Q: Hit cap in challenge modes--will it be normalized?A: We want to avoid messing with hit cap. The intent is for people to be on the same skill level, we have a lot of complexities to work out for sure.

Q: With some achievements and pets becoming BoA, will mounts maybe become that?A: I can see it being a natural extension, but it will not be happening in 5.0. It's likely to be happening somewhere down the line, though.

Q: Can I have an option to turn my authenticator on and off?A: Yes. Soon.Q: What are your plans for moonkin form? Will it be similar to warlock's metamorphosis? Can we maybe change our form?A: We are going to update the art as we see fit. We're waiting to see what we do in 5.0.

Q: Trying to recruit casters is very hard because of the legendary--if you race or faction change, you lose all your progress on the legendary. What will you do to help with that?A: We want to make a white list of quests, but it's definitely something we're going to try to do. We try to be careful that CS doesn't get gamed by the system, we're afraid of people trying to act like they deserve something.

Q: In the future, will you ever make BoA items go cross server?A: Maybe... someday... in the future. Probably not in the immediate future, we don't have the system in place. The databases don't talk well to each other at the moment. I have a dream, though, that the mail system is a terrible way to send items. It would be nicer if they were really account bound, rather than mail send; we might try to do this for heirlooms, mounts, and so on if we do it for pets in 5.0.Q: How are you going to make sure that monks aren't overpowered nor underpowered?A: Initially we hadn't thought much about AoE, because in vanilla WoW you never did it. So we've been working to improve that over time. Q: Will arcane mages maybe get some more complex play, like a dot--or nerfing arcane blast?A: Yes, in 5.0, living bomb will be a spell for all mages.Q: Will enchanters be able to maybe make new epic wands in 5.0?A: Definitely.

Q: You have to get two crafting professions to min-max. Any changes to that, maybe?A: Ultimately, we don't want min-max players to feel that taking a gathering profession doesn't work. At the same time, if you spent forever leveling up a hard one (i.e. blacksmithing), you don't want to feel like someone else picked up herbalism and had fun.Q: Will leatherworking be able to make quivers for cosmetics?A: We're thinking of it just being a cosmetic reward for transmog. We kind of want to add those to all classes, like tomes for paladins and cool things for all classes that are visual add-ons to current gear.

Q: Benediction was removed--I'm excited to be able to transmog that, are you going to open it up to other players when it's something I worked hard to get? Can we keep original gear as bragging rights?A: We want people who got rid of stuff aren't overly penalized. We might offer the model with a tiny difference, sort of like Zul'aman bear mounts and how they were a little different.

Q: On behalf of all ret paladins, sorry for crying every day. Anyway, in our level 90 tree, I saw that you were giving us a huge buff. Can you not buff us nor nerf us? Let us be at peace!A: That was very moving, thank you. I mean, the level 90 tier will be relatively similar--so we're trying to hit those spots, we haven't tested yet, they will be tweaked.

Q: Do you intend for restos to make a trade off? Why don't you make it so that it's hardwired?A: We don't want them to have it.Q: Will there be any craftable mounts in Mists of Pandaria? Will you be able to attack on your mount ever?A: We have an exciting idea for craftable mounts. Maybe jewelcrafting...................... maybe. I can't divulge. And no to attacking on your mount.

Q: Green fire for warlocks. Will that happen in Mists of Pandaria?A: Minor gylphs are definitely a possibility. Technically it's very hard for us to do it, but we want to try to make blue or green fire. We want to ideally let players customize tons of colors and such for their spells.

Q: Heroic Leap--can we fix it?A: Heroic Leap got pulled, then we tried to pull it again. It's just too hard for WoW at the moment. Going up an incline and decline tend to bug that.

Q: There haven't been any lesbian/homosexual/transgender lore figures--any chance to change that?A: It's a possibility. We want to represent everyone. So we'll think about it.

Q: Could you move the 10-man model to a 15-model so we waste less loot and have more balance? If not, maybe a smart loot system? So no mail could drop if you had no mail user in your raid?A: 15-man is something we'd like, but very difficult and changes a lot so it becomes really hard to recruit 5 more people and so on. We would be more inclined to implement smart loot.

Q: Are you going to make more items like Fandral's Flamescythe in the future (it turns you into a fire cat)? Will we be able to access the form later, like transmog?A: For the moment, we're keeping it conservative, but it was special just for Firelands. We want to do other special things in the future--we love it. We don't want to make it formulaic, so people expect it. We want it to be fresh and random.

Q: It feels a shame that we can't use our exotic pets that we got. I was hoping that maybe this will be a change for 4.3 or 5.0? Why can't I be a marksman hunter with a spirit cat?A: Yesterday we said we'd let people choose in the future. You can have your turtle as a DPS. However, it won't help with a BM pet--hopefully the answer will be that you can be BM and not have to be marksman in 5.0.Q: Cataclysm's lore for goblins makes no sense. Why do you never see the goblin leader? Also... Blinding shield for paladins, what happened?A: Well, you know. I don't know if we had any plans for him, he served us well, but he's interesting and a bastard. Anyway, as for that shield thing: keeping in mind that GC did not promise you a pony, Blinding Shield is going to be a paladin level 70 ability. Q: What's wrong with classes that want to be more damage than healing, like with shaman? And a lot of talents seem to be totem oriented, why's that?A: There are a lot of options to be damage as a shaman with our new system. We like totems.Q: You're removing relics for paladins. Could you make librams visible, for the lore of paladins?A: Yes. For sure. Hunters will have ammo pouches, etc. Other things for other classes. Taking away relics as a mechanic doesn't mean they're going to be gone on a visual side.Q: In End Time, we kill the corrupted infite--in a 5-man. Can we maybe see them in a 25/10-man setting?A: It wraps up fairly cleanly, but the infinite dragonflight concept is useful and fun for the world. We have no raid plans, but I think it could and should be leveraged forward for more clever dungeons and fun.

Q: Player housing? Please?A: We'd love to, we talk about it all the time. But they are massive and will take forever. So if you still want classes and dungeons and more, it's just a dream.Q: For jewelcrafting, is there a possibility to add something like trinkets or necklaces that would be raid drop recipes? Maybe they could be BoE?A: We could certainly try. It's always a challenge to decide to add recipes, we don't always do it, and there has to be equality between everyone.Q: How will you show alliance and horde pandaren?A: Your UI will mostly tell you. The players don't depend on visual cues, they mostly depend on red names and red tooltips and so on. Primarily the UI distinguishes. We may try to help it. They won't look different most likely.Q: Do you see raid challenges and tracking?A: Definitely a possibility to track player accomplishments better. We'd like to extend it to raids in the future.Q: Can we reskin the old races, maybe make their faces similar to the pandaren?A: It's the one thing we really want at the level of everything. There are ten times the number of bones in a pandaren compared to other models. We are going to rework and redo them, we are working on it right now with character artists... but there are challenges so we're trying to make sure that we roll it out right and that we respect people's avatars. However, yes, we are doing it. It's in the works.Q: What will be the theme for Mists of Pandaria?A: Brewing, bamboo, and so on.

Class, Professions, and Items Q&A

All transcripts are currently collapsed--please expand them to read them in full.

Q: The wording of the talents implies that Shadow Priests will be gaining more of a resource like Holy Power. How will it be generated?A: Yes, this is true. The idea is that mind blast will have no cooldown and that it will cost shadow orbs.

Q: Are you satisifed with the state of healing in PvP? The concept previously mentioned was triage healing--players having to really choose who they heal. Have you seen that? Classes are either at 100% or 0% right now.A: Balancing PvE and PvP is our big challenge. That is definitely what we wanted, like vanilla, to make it all about it. We seemed to get there in Cataclysm's beginning, but with buffs and changes as the expansion expanded..it seems to have gone away. We're hoping to move away from double caster teams. We talk about this all the time and are still working on it.